Closure operating shaft locking mechanism



April 7, 1964 w. L. FLOEHR CLOSURE OPERATING SHAFT LOCKING MECHANISMFiled Nov. 18, 1959 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 R E V m WALTER L. FLOEHR BY bdjnwvm h ATTORNEY A ril 7, 1964 w. L. FLOEHR 7,

CLOSURE OPERATING SHAFT LOCKING MECHANISM Filed Nov. 18, 1959 3Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR WALTER L. FLOEHI? BY J WA;

4; ATTORNEY April 7, 1964 w. 1.. FLOEHR CLOSURE OPERATING SHAFT LOCKINGMECHANISM 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Nov. 18, 1959 F/GJO INVENTOR WALTER L.FLOEHR United States Patent 3,127,853 CLOSURE OPERATING SHAFT LOCKINGMECHANISM Walter L. Floehr, Toiedo, Ohio, assignor to UnitcastCorporation, Toledo, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Nov. 18, 1959,Ser. No. 853,871 6 Claims. (tCl. 105-308) This invention relatesgenerally to doors for closing dis charge openings in railway cars andparticularly to mechanism for locking an operating shaft of such a dooragainst operation.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide an improvedlocking mechanism for an operating shaft of a railway car door which issimple in construction and eifective and trouble-free in operation.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved lockingmechanism for railway car doors, the locking element of which is readilydrivable into and out of locking position, automatically compensates forwear and in release position does not interfere with operation of theshaft.

An additional object of the invention is to provide an improved lockingmechanism for railway car doors, wherein the locking element is adaptedby gravity to drop into and be restrained against accidentaldislodgement from an aperture extending through means fixed to theoperating shaft, is automatically guided into the slot on dropping tolocked position and, while readily releasable, is wedged into lockedposition to prevent accidental release by friction as Well as bygravity.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will appear hereinafter inthe detailed description, be particularly pointed out in the appendedclaims and be illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary front elevational view of a typicalinstallation of the locking mechanism of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the structure of FIGURE 1 withportions broken away and shown in section to more clearly illustratecertain of the details of construction;

FIGURE 3 is an exploded view on an enlarged scale of a prefeiredembodiment of the locking mechanism of the present invention;

FIGURE 4 is a front elevational view on the scale of FIGURE 3 showingthe components of that figure in locking position;

FIGURE 5 is an end elevational view of the mechanism of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is a vertical sectional view on an enlarged scale taken alongthe lines 66 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 7 is a plan view of the capstan of the mechanism on the scale ofFIGURE 6;

FIGURE 8 is an end elevational view of the capstan from the left end ofFIGURE 7;

FIGURE 9 in an end elevational view of the capstan from the right end ofFIGURE 7; and

FIGURE 10 is a fragmentary vertical sectional View taken along the lines1010 of FIGURE 7 with the operating shaft removed.

Referring now in detail to the drawings, in which like referencecharacters designate like parts, the improved locking mechanism of thepresent invention is applicable to any door closing a lading dischargeopening in a railway car which is either operated by rotation of anoperating shaft or has its locking mechanism so operated, such as theslide gate of my application Serial No. 754,834, filed August 13, 1958,now Patent No. 3,021,798 issued February 20, 1962, or the drop bottomdoor of my application Serial No. 833,821 filed on August 14, 1959.

In the illustrated embodiment, the improved locking mechanism,designated generally as 1, has been applied, typically, to a drop bottomhopper door 2 which is adapted to close a discharge opening 3 in ahopper 4-, the opening being bounded by a door frame 5. Hinged at thetop on hinges 6 fixed to the door frame 5 for swinging about ahorizontal axis between open and closed positions, the door 2 is lockedin closed position by a door locking mechanism 7 of the type illustratedin my application Serial No. 833,821, which, when operated, is capablethrough a pivoted latch 8 not only of pulling the door from partly tofully closed position, but of freeing the door on opening if the latteris stuck to the frame. The capabilities of the door locking mechanism '7result in part from a lost motion connection between the pivoted latch 8and a rotatable operating or drive shaft 9 and this same connectionpermits the door locking mechanism to be locked against accidentalrelease by locking of the operating shaft against rotation when themechanism is in locking position. It is here that in the illustratedembodiment the improved locking mechanism 1 comes into play to lock theoperating shaft 9 against rotation and so look the door 2 in closedposition.

The locking mechanism 1 is comprised of a keeper or catch member orelement 1%, which may be an integral part of the operating shaft 9 or befixed or secured to or made rigid with an end of the shaft and iscoaxial with and projects or extends axially or longitudinally therefrom somewhat beyond the adjoining side 11 of the door 2. The keepermember It here an extension of the operating shaft 9, conveniently maybe capstan to which leverage may be applied through a suitable actuatingbar (not shown) for rotating the shaft, the capstan for that purposebeing provided in its outer end portion 12 with a pair of radiallydirected, outwardly divergent sockets 13, either of which is adapted toreceive or seat an end of the actuating bar. The illustrated capstan orextension It? has as its inner end an axially socketed collar or boss 14for receiving the outer or contiguous end of the operating shaft 9 andis fixed or secured to the shaft, as by welding, about the collar.Serving as a. journal for the shaft 9, the collar is rotatably seated orjournalled in a bearing 15 fixed, as by welding, to the door 2 and islimited in its projection thereinto by an annular flange 16 integralwith the capstan 16 and bounding the outer end of the collar. If, as inthe illustrated embodiment, the locking mechanism 1 is carried entirelyby the door 2, rather than having its locking component mounted on thehopper 4 or other fixed part of a car body (not shown) adjacent thedoor, the bearing 15 may be an integral part of a mounting bracket 17having a pair of ears 1S spaced transversely of the shaft 9 from eachother and projecting or extending above or radially beyond the shaft.

The other or locking component of the locking mechanism 1 is a key,wedge or locking member 19 carried by or mounted on and straddled orembraced by the ears 18. The key 19 is intended to move both relative toand about a fixed axis in moving or shifting between locking and releaseor out-of-the-way positions and to this end is pinand-slot connected tothe ears 18 by a pin 20 disposed above the capstan l6 and preferablysubstantially normal to the outer face 21 of the door 2 and riding in alongitudinally elongated slot 22 in the key. Conveniently, the pin 20may be a rivet extending through and fixed to the ears 18 and, forreduced wear, the rivet between the ears may be rotatably encircled by abushing or sleeve 23 directly engaging the key 19 about the slot 22..

The key 19 has a head 24 and a relatively reduced shank 25, both ofwhich preferably are rectangular in cross-section. Flattened at itsupper extremity or top 26 and flat-sided except for an integral,gusset-backed lip, lug or spur 27 outstanding from and substantiallynormal to its outer side 28, the head terminates downwardly at at leastone side and preferably at both of its slot-interrupted sides 29 in oneor, as preferred, a plurality of transversely spaced, downwardly facingshoulders or stops 3d. Designed to exert a wedging action, the shank 25tapers downwardly from the shoulders 30 to its nose, tip or lowerextremity 31, this taper or wedge shape being obtained by the inward anddownward inclination or convergence of a pair of its opposite sides,preferably its slotinterrupted sides 32 and, from a point below theshoulders, this inward and downward inclination is applied to at leastits outer side 33 and preferably its inner side 34 as well, so that fromthat point, the shank, as a whole, is of inverted frusto-pyramidalshape.

Enabled by its pin-and-slot connection to the ears 18 to both shift orslide longitudinally relative to and swing about the pin 20, the key 19is confined by the pin to move in a plane which includes the rotativeaxis of the operating shaft 9 and is substantially normal to the outerface 21 of the door 2. This containment in the movement of the key 19 isdesigned to enable it, at least in the rotative position of the capstanand the operating shaft 9 in which the door 2 is fully closed, toregister or align with and drop by gravity into the mouth 35 of anaperture or slot 36 extending axially of and radially through thecapstan 10. Once the key 19 has entered the aperture '36, rotation ofthe operating shaft 9 is prevented and the door 2 is locked in closedposition. However, reliance on gravity alone to hold the key in theaperture 36 would not bar its accidental dislodgement or displacementunder the shocks to which the locking mechanism 1 would be subjected inservice. It is therefore intended to supplement the force of gravity onthe key 19 with a friction grip be tween the key and the capstansuflicient to inhibit any accidental dislodgement of the key.

The friction grip between the key 19 and the capstan 10 is obtained byinclining or tapering the transversely spaced side walls 37 of theaperture 36 in correspondence with the inclination or taper of theconfronting, slot-interrupted sides 32 of the shank 25 of the key 19,but with the spacing between these Walls such that, for the intendedservice life of the mechanism, the shank will not seat fully in theaperture and the shoulders 30 on the key will be spaced aboveconfronting limiting or stop surfaces 38 on the capstan 10 at sides ofthe mouth 35 of the aperture. As a consequence of this spacing, the key19, when driven downward by hammer or like blows on the flat top 26 ofits head 24, will be wedged into tight engagement with the transverselyspaced side walls 37 of the aperture 36. At the same time, any wear inthe key 19 or capstan 10 due to such engagement automatically will becompensated for by the taper to the point at which, after extended use,the shoulders 30 with but little force can be driven into engagementwith the limiting surfaces 38. This action of the inclined side walls 37of the aperture and the cooperating sides 32 of the key 19, in wedgingthe key in one transverse direction against the capstan and sofrictionally resisting accidental dislodgement of the key, preferably issupplemented by a wedging action in another transverse direction exertedby the tapered or inclined part of the outer side 33 of the shank 25against a part of a confronting outer wall 39 of the aperture to forcethe flat upper portion 40 of the inner side 34 of the shank andadjoining coplanar portion of the head 24 against the preferred flatinner wall 41 of the aperture.

Narrowest at its outlet 42, with its narrowness there determinedlongitudinally by the spacing between its outer and inner walls 39 and41, the aperture widens or flares thereabove both transversely andoutwardly. With the narrowness or restriction of the outlet 42 relativeto the mouth 35, the key 19, when inserted through the mouth, willproject through the outlet, while it will be stopped after only smallingress if inserted through the outlet. It thus is simple for .anoperator to determine visually whether the operating shaft 9 is inproper rotative position for the key 19 to lock the door 2 in closedposition.

The intended insertion of the key 19 through the mouth 35 of theaperture 36, rather than its outlet 42, is further facilitated byproviding a downwardly and inwardly inclined guide surface 43, at orbounding or defining the upper part of the outer side of the apertureand engageable by the nose 31 of the shank 25 of the key, in case thelatter is canted outwardly on entering the mouth, for guiding the shankinto proper position in the aperture. Conveniently, the guide surface 43may merge upwardly with a platform, shelf or fulcrum 44, substantiallyparalleling and facing upwardly toward but spaced outwardly of the lip27 on the head 24 of the key 19 in the locking position of themechanism 1. With the platform 44 spaced outwardly of and below the lip27 and the platform and lip preferably provided with concave surfaces 45and 46, respectively, each facing toward the other, these members afforda ready means for application of a pry or crowbar (not shown) forforcing the key 19 out of the aperture 36, the bar then being cradled inand fulcrumming on the concave upper surface 45 of the platform andreacting at its end against the confronting concave undersurface 46 ofthe lip.

The slot 22 in the key 19 is, of course, of suflicient length toaccommodate the vertical or longitudinal movement of the key requiredfor engagement and disengagement of the key and the capstan. Byextending the slot downwardly into the shank 25 to the point at whichthe pin 20, when in the lower end of the slot, will have its axis on theshank side of the center of gravity of the key, it is rendered possibleto cause the key not only to drop by gravity into the aperture 36 but tobe held by gravity in the substantially horizontal release orinoperative position shown in dot-and-dash line in FIGURE 4 in which,after the key has been lifted, its head 24 is swung inwardly about thepin 20 and rests on its inner side 47 on an underlying supportingportion 48 of the door stiffening member 49, that portion in theillustrated embodiment being the top flange of the angle iron serving asthe stiffening member.

From the above detailed description, it will be apparent that there hasbeen provided an improved mechanism for locking an operating shaft of acar door against rotation which is simple, effective and of long usefullife. It should be understood that the described and disclosedembodiment is merely exemplary of the invention and that allmodifications are intended to be included which do not depart fromeither the spirit of the invention or the scope of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. Mechanism for locking an operating shaft of a railway car dooragainst operation comprising a door operating shaft, means fixed to andextending axially of said shaft beyond an end thereof, bracket meansmounted on said door and projecting above said fixed means, key meansconnected above said shaft to and movable about and longitudinallyrelative to said bracket means, a downwardly tapered portion on said keymeans, a correspondingly tapered aperture in and extending substantiallyradially of said fixed means, said tapered portion in a closed positionof said door being longitudinally insertable into said aperture, meanson said key means for enabling said tapered portion thereof to be driveninto said aperture in said closed position of said door, and means onsaid fixed means and cooperating with means on said key means forenabling said key means to be dislodged from said aperture andthereafter swung about said bracket means to inoperative position.

2. Mechanism for locking an operating shaft of a railway car dooragainst operation comprising a door operating shaft, mounting meansprojecting above said shaft in a closed position of said door, key meconnected above said shaft to and movable about and longitudinallyrelative to said mounting means, an aperture extending substantiallyradially through said shaft and positioned to receive said key means insaid closed position of said a door, said aperture in said positiontapering away from said key means, wedge means on said key means andwedgeable into said aperture on alignment thereof with said key meansfor locking said shaft against rotation and therethrough said door inclosed position, and means connected to said shaft and cooperating withmeans on said key means for enabling said key means to be dis placedfrom said aperture.

3. Mechanism for locking an operating shaft of a railway car dooragainst operation comprising a door operating shaft, means fixed to andextending axially of said shaft beyond an end thereof, bracket meansmounted on said door and projecting above said fixed means, key meansconnected above said shaft to and movable about and longitudinallyrelative to said bracket means, an aperture in and extending radiallythrough said fixed means and aligning with and tapering away from saidkey means in said closed position of said door, a wedging portion onsaid key means tapering in correspondence with and receivable in andprojectable through said aperture in said closed position, means on saidkey means for enabling said wedging portion thereof to be driven intosaid aperture in said closed position of said door, and means on saidfixed means and cooperating with means on said key means for enablingsaid key means to be dislodged from said aperture and thereafter swungabout said bracket means to inoperative position.

4. Mechanism for locking an operating shaft of a railway car dooragainst operation comprising a door operating shaft, means fixed to andextending axially of said shaft beyond an end thereof, bracket meansmounted on said door and projecting above said fixed means, key meansconnected above said shaft to and movable about and longitudinallyrelative to said bracket means, an aperture in and extending radiallythrough said fixed means and aligning with and tapering away from saidkey means in said closed position of said door, a wedging portion onsaid key means tapering in correspondence With and seatable in andprojectible through said aperture in said closed position, means on saidkey means for enabling said wedging portion thereof to be driven intosaid aperture in said closed position of said door, means on said keymeans and engageable with means on said fixed means for limiting theprojection of said wedging portion relative to said aperture, andfulcrum means on said fixed means outwardly of said aperture andcooperating with means outstanding thereabove from said key means forenabling said key means to be dislodged from said aperture andthereafter swung about said bracket means to inoperative position.

5. Mechanism for locking an operating shaft of a railway car dooragainst operation comprising a door operating shaft, means fixed to andextending axially of said shaft beyond an end thereof, bracket meansmounted on said door and projecting above said fixed means, key meansconnected above said shaft to and movable about and longitudinallyrelative to said bracket means, an aperture in and extending radiallythrough said fixed means and aligning with and tapering away from saidkey means in said closed position of said door, a wedging portion onsaid key means tapering in correspondence with and receivable in andprojectible through said aperture in said closed position, a guidesurface on said fixed means at an outer side of said aperture forguiding said wedging portion thereinto, means on said key means forenabling said Wedging portion thereof to be driven into said aperture insaid closed position of said door, and fulcrum means on said fixed meansoutwardly of said aperture and cooperating with means outstandingthereabove from said key means for enabling said key means to bedislodged from said aperture and thereafter swung about said bracketmeans to inoperative position.

6. Mechanism for locking an operating shaft of a railway car dooragainst operation comprising a door operating shaft, a bracket fixed tosaid door and having a pair of ears spaced transversely of andprojecting above said shaft, a pin fixed to and extending between saidears substantially normal to an outer face of said door, a key receivingsaid pin in a longitudinally elongated slot for movement about andlongitudinally relative to said pin, said key having a substantiallyflat-topped head and a shank of reduced cross-section relative to andtapering away from said head, a capstan fixed to and coaxial with saidshaft and underlying said pin, an aperture extending radially throughsaid capstan and confronting and tapering away from said key in a closedposition of said door, said shank in said closed position being seatablein said aperture, inclined surfaces on said shank and reactable againstconfronting surfaces bounding said aperture for wedging said key in aplurality of transverse directions against said capstan on driving ofsaid shank into said aperture by application of force to the flat top ofsaid head, a guide surface in and defining an outer side of a mouth ofsaid aperture for guiding said shank thereinto, and a platform on saidextension outwardly of said surface and cooperating with a lugoutstanding thereabove from said head for enabling said key to be priedfrom said aperture and thereafter swung about said pin to inoperativeposition.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS478,281 Bomar July 5, 1892 1,503,502 Hosceit Aug. 5, 1924 1,526,276Germek Feb. 10, 1925 1,658,762 Dickerson Feb. 7, 1928 1,834,263 WineDec. 1, 1931 1,861,153 Dorey May 31, 1932 1,913,154 Endsley et al. June6, 1933 2,818,032 Dath Dec. 31, 1957 2,891,487 Hankins June 23, 1959

1. MECHANISM FOR LOCKING AN OPERATING SHAFT OF A RAILWAY CAR DOORAGAINST OPERATION COMPRISING A DOOR OPERATING SHAFT, MEANS FIXED TO ANDEXTENDING AXIALLY OF SAID SHAFT BEYOND AN END THEREOF, BRACKET MEANSMOUNTED ON SAID DOOR AND PROJECTING ABOVE SAID FIXED MEANS, KEY MEANSCONNECTED ABOVE SAID SHAFT TO AND MOVABLE ABOUT AND LONGITUDINALLYRELATIVE TO SAID BRACKET MEANS, A DOWNWARDLY TAPERED PORTION ON SAID KEYMEANS, A CORRESPONDINGLY TAPERED APERTURE IN AND EXTENDING SUBSTANTIALLYRADIALLY OF SAID FIXED MEANS, SAID TAPERED PORTION IN A CLOSED POSITIONOF SAID DOOR BEING LONGITUDINALLY INSERTABLE INTO SAID APERTURE, MEANSON SAID KEY MEANS FOR ENABLING SAID TAPERED PORTION THEREOF TO BE DRIVENINTO SAID APERTURE IN SAID CLOSED POSITION OF SAID DOOR, AND MEANS ONSAID FIXED MEANS AND COOPERATING WITH MEANS ON SAID KEY MEANS FORENABLING SAID KEY MEANS TO BE DISLODGED FROM SAID APERTURE ANDTHEREAFTER SWUNG ABOUT SAID BRACKET MEANS TO INOPERATIVE POSITION.